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The Divine Fits: A Thing Called the Divine Fits

Honorable Mentions

The Walkmen: Heaven
Dinosaur Jr.: I Bet on Sky

Giles

Pet Shop Boys: Elysium
Simian Mobile Disco: Unpatterns
Boys Noize: Out of the Black
2 Bears: Be Strong
Keane: Strangeland
Analog Players Society: Hurricane Season in Brooklyn
Orbital: Wonky
The Egg: Something to Do
Hot Chip: In Our Heads

bootsy

Nas - Life Is Good
Jessie Ware - Devotion
Ab-Soul - Control System
Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
El-P - Cancer 4 Cure
Usher - Looking 4 Myself
Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Schoolboy Q - Habits & Contradictions
Frank Ocean - Channel ORANGE
Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.a.a.d. City
Robert Glasper - Black Radio
The Weeknd - Trilogy

Supermallet

Born To Die? Really? Half that album is crap, sorry.

I'd say, off the top of my head:
Menomena - Moms
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Metric - Synthetica

I know there's a ton I'm forgetting, but those stood out to me this year.

marginal

Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives
The Lumineers (Self-Titled)
Shiny Toy Guns - III
Regina Spektor - What We Saw from the Cheap Seats
Imagine Dragons - Night Visions
Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man
Dragonette - Bodyparts
Elizaveta - Beatrix Runs
Purity Ring - Shrines
Ellie Goulding - Halcyon

maxfisher

This thread just makes me realize how sad our 'Rank 'em as You Hear Them' threads have gotten. I really loved a lot of albums this year and probably just about anything ranked 50 or higher on my Rank 'em list could end up on my top 10 for a day, depending on my mood. Anyway, top 10 favorites currently would be:

1. Metric - Synthetica
2. Miike Snow - Happy to You
3. Menomena - Moms
4. Divine Fits - This is a Thing Called Divine Fits
5. Cat Power - Sun
6. The xx - Coexist
7. White Rabbits - Milk Famous
8. Grizzly Bear - Shields
9. Beach House - Bloom
10. Eight and a Half - Eight and a Half

Hiro11

Still compiling as I listened to a lot of stuff, but initial favorites:
El-P - Cancer for Cure
Black Breath - Sentenced to Life
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Lost Songs
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Twin Shadow - Confess
Metz - S/T
Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind
Menzingers - Out of the Impossible Past
Santigold - Master of my Make Believe
Beach House - Bloom
Diiv - Oshin
Frank Ocean - Channel Ocean
High on Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis
Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet on Sky
No Trigger - Tycoon

Two reissues:
Sleep - Dopesmoker
The Weeknd - Trilogy

Chrisedge

Jack White - Blunderbuss
Bob Mould - Silver Age
Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth

astrochimp

This.

Also:

Harmony-Serena Ryder
Battle Born-The Killers

I guess I didn't buy much this year.

ultimaton

My top 5:

1. Crystal Castles - III
2. Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
3. David Byrne & St. Vincent - Love This Giant
4. A Place to Bury Strangers - Onwards to the Wall
5. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe

The Antipodean

This place has sure gone downhill since the G Kleinman days.

bunkaroo

Kind of a slow year for me. I could mention what my favorites were, but they're basically just the latest release by bands I already like.

So in no particular order:

OSI - Fire Make Thunder
Storm Corrosion - S/T (Akerfeldt/Wilson side project)
Muse - The 2nd Law (realize I'm in the minority here )
Delerium - Music Box Opera
Fear Factory - The Industrialist
Rush - Clockwork Angels (despite the sound)

Looking forward to 2013 for:

Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing
Juno Reactor - (no title yet)
KMFDM - KUNST

Mordred

My Top 15 (although it gets a bit muddy in the order after 7)
1. If These Trees Could Talk - Red Forest
2. Latitudes - Individuation
3. Landforge - Servitude to Earth
4. Deftones - Koi no Yokan
4.5 Anathema - Weather Systems
5. ÆGES - The Bridge
6. Gojira - L'Enfant sauvage
7. Toundra - (III)
8. Cavo - Thick as Thieves
9. RAM - Death
10. In Mourning - The Weight of Oceans
11. Moving Mountains - New Light EP
12. Pelican - Ataraxia/Taraxis
13. Anberlin - Vital
14. The Used - Vulnerable
15. Ufomammut - ORO: Opus Primum

Edit: Whoops, forgot about Anathema's latest. Squeezed it in there now.

cungar

Never heard of any of these

Throwing Copper

My Top 5:

Fiona Apple - "The Idler Wheel"
Deftones - "Koi No Yokan"
Regina Spektor -- "Cheap Seats"
Bootsy -- "Mr. Fuck-A-Mod Is Back (Part II)"
Big Boi -- "Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors"

Hiro11

Metal, mostly.

Hiro11

emanon

Young Hines - Give Me My Change
Jack White - Blunderbuss

Dan

Sadly, I have not kept track of everything released this year that I've enjoyed. That said, a few albums that I can think of off the top of my head, that I've listened to more than a few times, are:

Deftones - Koi No Yokan (this one is definitely #1 for me)

Coheed & Cambria - Afterman Part 1
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Metric - Synthetica

Mordred

There are about five albums in my list I'd consider metal; the rest is post-rock, hardcore, alternative, and rock, although some of them straddle genres (post-hardcore? post-metal? sludge?). No joke, Taylor Swift just barely missed my list.

cungar

Guided By Voices - The Bears for Lunch
Bob Mould - Silver Age
Robert Pollard - Jack Sells the Cow
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Rush - Clockwork Angels
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill
Jack White - Blunderbuss
A.C. Newman - Shut Down the Streets
Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball

Tarantino

@ Throwing Copper.

My most spun album this year is probably Calvin Harris - 18 Months.

I'll think about this and get back to you.

Also, bootsy has a point. Saying that you think half an album is crap is one thing, but telling someone their opinion is wrong is another.

Mike86

2012 has kind of sucked for music thus far if you ask me. My short list would be:

Bruce Springsteen: Wrecking Ball
Jack White: Blunderbuss
Rush: Clockwork Angels

Giles

this is on my X-mas list, and I do like the 'Americana' album too.

Tarantino

I don't think that's the first time he's chimed in on his opinions.

Back on topic, I think a lot of 2012 lists will have Kendrick Lamar's GKMC near the top, along with Frank Ocean's Orange.

I think some favorites of mine that may have flown under the radar were Ab-Soul - Book of Soul (part of Kndrick's crew) and Macklemore - The Heist.